Author: Pranab Dhal Samanta
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: April 13, 2008
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/sunday/story/296201.html
Former chief of the Students Islamic Movement
of India Safdar Nagori, arrested in Indore last month, is said to have told
his interrogators that he regards Taliban's Mullah Omar as the "true
caliph" of the Muslim world and that he was working to establish links
with him through NRI contacts in the Gulf. Investigators have told The Sunday
Express that Nagori said his aim was to wage jihad in India under Omar's leadership.
Nagori told interrogators that he had "great
respect" for Osama bin Laden but could not consider him a "caliph"
as he had been uprooted from his own soil.
According to him, Mullah Omar stood out in
comparison because he was waging a jihad from within his own country and on
his territory. For this reason, he considered Omar more capable to lead a
new Islamic caliphate. Mullah Omar has been in hiding since the ouster of
the Taliban from Afghanistan. He is believed to be still in the country, somewhere
in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border belt. His last speech, reportedly written
by him, was released in April 2007 where he exhorted his cadres to carry out
more suicide bombings.
While Nagori had still not succeeded in establishing
contact with the Taliban leader, sources said, he made considerable headway
and would possibly have achieved success in few months. Investigators have
found leads to make some inquiries in the Gulf region through friendly agencies.
It's learnt that the admiration for Omar was
a common thread in the interrogation of key leaders arrested along with Nagori
on March 27.
This included Nagori's brother Kamaruddin,
key organizers in South India Shibly Peedical Abdul and Mohammed Adnan alias
Hafiz Mullah. The Nagori brothers and one of the other arrested, Aamil Parvez,
have undergone narco-analysis in Bangalore.
That Nagori was drawn towards Mullah Omar
also emerged in the interrogation of Lashkar-trained terrorist Raziddin Nasir,
who was arrested from the Hubli region in Bangalore.
Raziuddin was a well-trained terrorist and
according to sources, had undergone all five levels of training imparted in
Pakistan-based Lashkar terror camps.
Scouting for local support, Raziuddin revealed
that he first got in touch with 25-year-old engineering student Mohammed Adnan
who, in turn, organized a meeting with Nagori in Bhopal last year.
At that meeting, sources said, the two agreed
to work together in planning attacks on Israeli and American tourists in Goa.
In his interrogation, Raziuddin mentioned
Nagori having claimed that he was readying an army for Mullah Omar. Ehtesham
Siddiqui, one of the accused in the 7/11 Mumbai blasts and an associate of
Nagori, too, indicated that underground SIMI cares were motivated by the Taliban
leader.
It may be noted that Siddiqui even wrote a
letter from the Mumbai prison to Nagori where he claimed he had not revealed
much about SIMI plans.
Nagori not only confirmed his reverence for
Omar but elaborated on how he was following him as a role model. In doing
so, he first made his brother Kamaruddin the training in-charge so that a
basic idea of physical fitness and using firearms can be inculcated.
Computers seized during investigation have
revealed training plans, motivational jihadi music used by Jaish-e-Mohammed
and even some speeches made by Maulana Masood Azhar.
Kamaruddin's interrogation revealed that he
took this responsibility with immense dedication. A tempo driver by profession,
he told interrogators that he drove his tempo in Indore until 1 pm and then
spent the remaining half for "organizational activities".
He claimed that he wanted to earn just enough
to feed himself.
With the help of Shibly, his brother Shaduli
and Adnan, Kamaruddin disclosed he was able to organize a series of training
camps last year - in Karnataka between April and September, then Kerala in
October-November, Madhya Pradesh in December and recently in January this
year somewhere in Gujarat.
According to him, the decision was to target
those behind the demolition of Babri Masjid, Gujarat riots and those named
by the Srikrishna Commission that inquired into the Mumbai riots.
While Nagori confirmed this, he denied involvement
in any other terror attack, be it Mumbai or Malegaon. He claimed that his
outfit was against "mass killing". Kamaruddin told interrogators
that their aim was to "be target-specific".
